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Dateline: 20th November, 2003 £20m Gift for the Arts UK-based South African businessman Donal Gordon is to give £20m to the arts in the UK, with £10m each going to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff. Staff at the Millennium Centre, which will cost £104m and is due to open in 2004, have said that £6m will be used to offset building costs, reducing the amount the Centre has to find from private sources to £2.7m, and the rest will go towards subsidising tickets and for programming. Donald Gordon, a dual UK and South African National, explained his reasons: "The Performing Arts have played an important part in my life over the four years since I became resident in the UK. This donation is made ahead of my retirement as Chairman of Liberty International, and heralds the beginning of a fascinating new activity that will become an important and enjoyable focus of my life in retirement. "I have been impressed by the continuing success of the Royal Opera House since its redevelopment and in particular in how it has broadened the range of work on offer to audiences, and how eagerly audiences have responded. Covent Garden is a shining example of why centres of artistic excellence should be developed and supported by both public and private contributions. "Likewise I am struck by the ambition, boldness, and creativity of the Wales Millennium Centre and how it will offer audiences access to excellence and provide wide ranging opportunities for artists from across the globe. "It makes perfect sense for me to enjoy the pleasures of giving in a tax efficient manner while I am still fit enough to participate actively and enjoy the process, and I hope that my gift will stimulate and encourage other donors in the UK to honour and support the Nation's major institutions of culture, arts, sport and charity in general in a sensible and effective manner. " Some of the money will be used to develop partnerships between the two organisations. It gives me considerable pleasure to give back some of the rewards of my business success to the nations that made it possible by supporting two of the world’s leading performing arts venues”. Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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